Come Meet Me and Chris Guillebeau at the Harvard Coop Bookstore at 7 PM on Monday, Sept. 13.
Chris is giving a talk about his provocative new book, The Art of Non-Conformity. Come hear his challenges to live a life that’s both engaging and useful to the world. After the talk, Chris and I will be hanging out in the Coop Cafe until closing to talk shop about remarkable living, writing, and whatever else interests you. We hope to see you there!

Learn More, Study Less
If you’re among the many readers who enjoy Scott Young’s blog in addition to Study Hacks, then you should give some serious consideration to his new video course, Learn More, Study Less. I spent an interesting morning earlier this week watching Scott’s lessons. Some of his approaches will sound familiar to fans of my books, and some I wish I had thought up first (his lesson on procrastination and time management, for example, are worth the price of the whole course); others clash with my philosophy: I’m not a fan of mind mapping style notes — too inefficient, in my opinion.

Learning how to read takes a lot of practice. Considering you have a Ph. D in theoretical CS you’ve had tons of more practice. Could it be that you, as an expert reader, dismiss methods that aren’t very useful to you but that are useful to intermediate readers like Scott?

I am a biology PhD student and I was wondering whether you think Scott’s course would be useful to somebody like me. I feel like i definitely need some help with procrastination and time management especially with the different projects that i am trying to get moving in my research. But at the same time, i don’t have any need to do coursework- so doing assignments well, getting A plus and acing university finals are not things that i need to learn about.
so would this course still be useful?
Thanks!

We’ve had several PhD students in the program in the past who’ve been happy with it. 90% of the course is about learning tactics, not tricks to pass exams. If you email me, I’d be happy to discuss it in more detail ( personal@scotthyoung.com )

Plus the course has a 60-day return policy, so if you don’t like it, you can easily get your money back.

(i) How do you organize flash cards so that they’re not lost or in a pile?
(ii) How can I speed up QEC notetaking from textbooks?
(iii) If I have to do homework based on a reading, is it more effective to take notes first or just skim for homework answers?
(iv) Unfortunately, the mindset of my comrades at a so-called prestigious school has taken over. If I’m in eleventh grade and have only taken one AP exam in high school, with mediocre results, can I remedy it with exceptional grades and SAT scores (and a few SAT subject tests)?

Hey cal, it’s mike from the coop, thought I’d like to let you know that the QEC notes have made understanding cell bio easier and that some of the study hack tricks work. More detail to come soon, by the way thanks for signing my books 🙂

hey Cal! i ordered all your books from a local vendor – was really hoping for the white cover for “how to win at college” but got the yellow one instead 🙁 – was hoping to have a uniform set with how to be a high school superstar. Have they actually printed the white cover ones?

I’m not in HS anymore but the stuff inside is still applicable [albeit modified] to my college career. I want to go to grad school in CE.

Hey cal, it’s mike from the coop, thought I’d like to let you know that the QEC notes have made understanding cell bio easier and that some of the study hack tricks work. More detail to come soon, by the way thanks for signing my books

It was great to meet you. Keep looking for your Grand Project…

Isn’t that an oxymoron?

Not unless you lump learning as being equivalent to conformity?

ey Cal! i ordered all your books from a local vendor – was really hoping for the white cover for “how to win at college” but got the yellow one instead

Thanks for ordering! We have to sell out the current printing of the yellow and red books before they become white, so I think everyone should use this as motivation for buying many more additional copies!

Aren’t you conforming to the teacher’s rules and if (hopefully 😉 ) the teacher has many students isn’t there some “conformity” among the students?
That is, non-conformity fades away very quickly in all cases, it just builds another group-think fad.

I see :D. so the white book versions of the red and yellow book are not actually in print yet. Got scared for a moment thinking the shop people didn’t get me the new ones.

You should market more in Asia – huge market for folks who want to get As. But most everyone here are grinds – well, I’ve never dared to ask what else they do besides memorising and practicing code and math – They seem to do phenomenally -Especially students from India and China. Well, I got burned out but I’m now studying for passion, not money. Let the First Class Honors folks take the $5000 jobs at Google and IBM. I just want a reasonable job that will pay back my student loans, take care of living expenses and let me explore my passions.

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About Cal Newport

I'm a computer science professor who writes about the intersection of technology and society. I’m particularly interested in the impact of new technologies on our ability to perform productive work and lead satisfying lives. If you’re new to my writing, a good place to start is the about page. You can access over a decade's worth of posts in the blog archive.

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